Love Island’s Bias Is No Longer Subtle—It’s Systemic

Even if you didn’t have the opportunity to travel to a remote tropical getaway this summer, it almost seemed impossible to escape the reach of Love Island USA. Whether you were invested or not, the popular Peacock show’s reach appeared to reach new heights of engagement this past month. But in the BIPOC community, a show that was once considered a form of escapism has turned decidedly less so, as fans are seeing colorism, misogynoir and racial bias play out in real time–serving perhaps a little too much reality from their television. 

LOVE ISLAND USA — Episode 736 — Pictured: (l-r) Olandria Carthen, Nicolas “Nic” Vansteenberghe — (Photo by: Kim Nunneley/Peacock)

This weekend marked the seventh season finale for the U.S. version and had some viewers questioning if this latest season was an aberration for the Love Island franchise? DEI Strategist Anna Fontus-Obasuyi and political science PhD student Kailen Aldridge sat down with AFROPUNK for a conversation around the show’s portrayal of Black women, drawing parallels between the dynamics on screen and broader societal issues around racism, bias and a lack of empathy towards Black women.

The discussion kicked off debating if it is possible for people of color to find true love on Love Island. Aldridge promptly replied, “I want to say yes so badly, but I’m going to have to say no because I’m not convinced that it is set up for people of color, especially Black women, to find love.” 

“Each season, the same kind of theme reoccurs, where you have this beautiful, gorgeous [Black] woman. She’s dark skinned, she’s got a good head on her shoulders,” Aldridge continued. “As they say on the show, she’s the perfect person on paper, but she’s usually the last to find love and there’s this pity around her. She’s crying in the confessional, ‘I just want love,’ and it’s always the exact same trope that happens every single season.”

Fontus-Obasuyi chimed in, “when people are looking at their options, it’s very clear that the Black women are not even in their line of sight in the first place. When they’re assembling their set of options in their heads, Black women aren’t it.”.”

Shoniqua Roach, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University also tuned into this season, pointing out, “While fans did emphasize the beauty of Chelley and Olandria when the cast was first announced (and they are, indeed, beautiful), the show’s (and fans) persistent anxiety about race showed up in many discussions about the four ostensibly Black women contestants. These conversations raised age-old questions about what constitutes blackness —from phenotype to nationality—skin color to accent, demonstrating how much race matters, even as such TV shows market themselves as race neutral.“

Beyond appearances, stereotypes around how Black women are portrayed or expected to “behave” is another important aspect of the premise of Love Island. “People want to see the more subservient Black women and there’s this whole posturing of Black women, wherein ‘you’re so powerful and amazing. I could never be you,’” stated Fontus-Obasuyi. “But when that dynamic happens, it leaves Black women with no support. It’s triggering for me because in a workplace setting, if I see something wrong, I will say it and speak up. But as a result it often falls on me to say the uncomfortable thing.” 

This scenario occurred on the Island when Olandria finally spoke up, and aired their grievances with the cast and is yet another example of how the show can be thought of as a microcosm of what it means to be a Black woman in America today. 

Season seven also made headlines for several cast members being forced to prematurely leave the villa due to racist remarks surfacing on social media. As Roach stated, “From cast members’ histories of racist slurs to fandom discourse around the ‘Black queens who refused to give up the kitty,’ the Love Island empire reinforced misogynoir against Black women, treating them as targets of public ridicule as well as unwitting objects of public sexual consumption.”

For Aldridge, “this season has been the worst season across the entire franchise, and it’s just drawing a huge parallel for me for what I do in my real life to what should be my brain rotting time,” adding, “The only time I get to myself to be silly is to watch my favorite show that should be surface level is no longer surface level and that’s very, very sad. I don’t know who’s to blame. I don’t know if it’s all in production, in America or if it’s both.” 

As the producers inevitably begin preparations for the next season, there is an opportunity for change. Given the show’s popularity and discourse on social media, care should be taken around the production narrative for BIPOC women on the Island.